Things Left Unsaid 3: My Fault
by Kali47
Summary: Coda 3x21 Off the Tracks. Danny and Martin talk, after Danny leaves his brother in the garage.


**THINGS LEFT UNSAID 3**

**- MY FAULT -**

Chapters: oneshot  
Type: vignette  
Rating: PG  
Main characters: Danny Taylor, Martin Fitzgerald  
Timeline: Post-episode 3x21 "Off the Tracks"_  
_Summary: Danny and Martin talk, after Danny's left his brother in the garage.  
Beta Reader: none  
Disclaimer: Don't own the show; don't own the characters (sadly).  
Written: July, 2005

* * *

"Is he in there?" Martin asked his friend, when Danny came out of the garage.

He was leaning against the car and Danny stopped in front of him. Glancing at the floor, he was deliberately avoiding his friend's gaze. "Yeah, 'n completely high."

"What are you going to do?"

"I better call the cops," he replied, trying to sound detached. "I'm sure they'll want to talk to him; 'bout that drug we found."

"You want me drop you at your place," Martin proposed. "I can take care of the paperwork, you know."

"Nah, I'm fine." Danny shrugged the offer off, and Martin started to walk to the conductor side of the vehicle.

Danny turned over and gave one last look at that miserable place. The moon was high in the sky, but clouds were hiding its rays. The night was cold and quiet; too quiet. In his mind, he could still picture Raffie; sitting right where he'd left him, the long strokes left by salty tears still fresh on his face.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned over to face Martin.

"Do you want to talk about it?" the other agent asked, in an uncommonly kind voice.

"What d'you want me to say? There's nothing to say about it." Danny's answer was sharp. Sharper than he intended for it to be, but he was not ready to talk about it. He didn't want to see that look of pity in his friend's eyes either.

Martin was not willing to let the matter drop, so easily though. His hand was still on his friend's shoulder, when he spoke, "Danny, you did good today; you found him and you probably saved his life."

"You think it's like that; that easy?" He shrugged the hand off of his shoulder, in a terse movement. "You have no idea, Martin! You don't know. You can't understand." He half-shouted the words, his voice harsh and shaking.

Martin felt there was some anger in his friend's words too, but he doubted that it was directed at him. Who then, he wondered, Danny's brother or Danny himself.

"Then tell me," he asked. "Explain it to me."

Martin wasn't ready to give up; not yet. He knew Danny didn't want to talk about it, but he also knew that one cannot keep everything bottle up inside. It's never a good thing.

He kept his movements non-threatening, as he rounded his friend. He kept his voice low, and made sure to only let concern shine through his words and nothing else, "Talk to me, Danny. Please, explain it to me."

"Explain you what? That it's entirely my fault; that it's because of me, if he's like this? Is that what you want to hear?" Danny shouted the words and all of the suppressed anger and pain he had carried with him all day were suddenly freed in his voice.

"Is that what you want to hear?" he roared again. "That I feel responsible for all this? That it's because of me it all happened?"

Danny's voice trailed off and died, as he moved away from Martin. He furiously kicked at a stone with his feet; it made a loud noise, when it hit a nearby empty can.

"He's done it to himself. It's not your fault." Martin's voice was calm and gentle.

"Don't you understand, it's because of me they died. If they'd been here, things would have been different. It's all because of me." Sorrow replaced anger in Danny's voice, and tears welled up in his eyes.

"It's because of me." He sat down, on the bare floor; his knees too weak to support the weight of his guilt anymore.

Martin crouched down, in front of him. He didn't know much about Danny's parents' death. He only knew that they'd died, in a car accident, when he was a kid.

"It wasn't your fault, Danny; it was an accident," he tried, unsure what else to say.

Danny's eyes took a vacant, faraway look and glazed over slightly, "We were in the car, driving home, and I said something. My dad, he turned back to look at me. And then… and then the car crashed. It was my fault."

"You didn't want that to happen, Danny; it wasn't your fault. And what happened to Raffie, afterwards, isn't your fault either. He made his own choices; just like you did."

"Then why do I feel so bad about it?"

Martin had no reply to offer. He couldn't find anything to say, that would make his friend feel better. With a pained expression, he sat down beside him, and put his arm around his shoulder for comfort.

'It wasn't my fault. It was an accident.'The words danced through Danny's head again. Echoing painfully against the inside of his skull. He repeated the words and wondered if, one day, he would ever believed them to be true.

**THE END**


End file.
